Revive the co-operative movement in Sri Lanka

With the Aragalaya or the public revolt against the Rajapaksa Government continuing for the 85th day and the crisis getting worse day by day with political leaders warning of a possible famine and hundreds of people surviving with one meal a day, Sri Lanka needs to reconsider its economic policy and go back to the cooperative movement which played a key role in giving essential items to the people at affordable prices. The co-operative movement which started after the SWRD Bandaranaike government took over in 1956, played a major role till 1977 when J.R.Jayewardene led the United National Party (UNP) to a sweeping victory at the general elections. The next year he set up the executive presidential system and with a five-sixth majority in parliament, drew the country into the globalised capitalist market economic system which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. 
  
The executive presidential system is still continuing despite several attempts to abolish and give more power to Parliament. For instance, at the 1994 presidential election, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga described the executive presidency as a curse and vowed she would abolish it within 24 hours.   

But politicians seldom walked the talk and the curse apparently became a blessing for her. In 2015, the Yahapalanaya Government pushed through the 19th  Amendment which reduced the powers of executive president and gave more powers to the prime minister and Parliament with the Constitutional Council having the power to approve or reject appointments to top posts. But within a year or two major differences erupted between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe leading to a breakdown of the rule of law. The National Security Council did not hold some of its regular meetings and this allowed the ISIS terrorists to carry out the Easter Sunday massacre on April 21,2019.   

Though the Special Presidential Commission was appointed to probe who was responsible for what, the Commission’s full report has still not been fully disclosed  for reasons known to the Rajapaksa family clan.   
Largely because of the executive presidential system, the economy has broken down and we need to look for practical solutions while people waste their time in queues for fuel and gas and while the prices of essential medicinal drugs and devices and food items have skyrocketed. It is in this context that all over the world cooperatives will today celebrate the 100th International Day of Co-operatives or “#Coops Day”. This year’s #CoopsDay theme is “Co-operatives Build a Better World”. In a statement, the UN says operating all around the world, in many different sectors of economy, co-operatives have proven themselves more resilient to crises than the average. They foster economic participation, fight against environmental degradation and climate change, generate good jobs, contribute to food security, keep financial capital within local communities, build ethical value chains, and, by improving people’s material conditions and security, contribute to positive peace.   

According to the UN, co-operatives have been acknowledged as associations and enterprises through which citizens can effectively improve their lives while contributing to the economic, social, cultural and political advancement of their community and nation. The co-operative movement has been also recognised as a distinct and major stakeholder in both national and international affairs.   

The UN says co-operatives’ open membership model affords access to wealth creation and poverty alleviation. This results from the co-operative principle of members’ economic participation: ‘Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative. Because co-operatives are people-centred, not capital-centred, they do not perpetuate, nor accelerate capital concentration and they distribute wealth in a fair way. The International Co-operative Alliance unites, represents and serves co-operatives worldwide. Founded in 1895, it is one of the oldest non-governmental organisations and one of the largest ones measured by the number of people represented: 1.2 billion co-operative members on the planet.   

The Alliance works with global and regional governments and organisations to create the legislative environments that allow co-operatives to form and grow.   

According to the UN more than 12% of humanity is part of any of the 3 million co-operatives in the world. The largest 300 co-operatives and mutuals report a total turnover of US$ 2,034.98 billion. Co-operatives employ 280 million people across the globe-10% of the world’s employed population.   

As American motivational writer William Arthur Ward has said the more generous we are, the more joyous we become. The more co-operative we are, the more valuable we become. The more enthusiastic we are, the more productive we become. The more serving we are, the more prosperous we become.